Thursday

The Peoria Chiefs had a promotion in place Wednesday night that every fan in attendance would be given a free ticket to another game if the Chiefs lost.

It didn’t come to that as the Chiefs ground out a 3-1 win over Quad Cities at Dozer Park, snapping a three-game losing skid and picking up their second win in six games since the All-Star break.

Peoria starter Cory Jones picked up the win, giving up one run off two hits in six innings of work.

But it wasn’t all smooth sailing for the right-hander.

The Peoria Chiefs had a promotion in place Wednesday night that every fan in attendance would be given a free ticket to another game if the Chiefs lost.

It didn’t come to that as the Chiefs ground out a 3-1 win over Quad Cities at Dozer Park, snapping a three-game losing skid and picking up their second win in six games since the All-Star break.

Peoria starter Cory Jones picked up the win, giving up one run off two hits in six innings of work.

But it wasn’t all smooth sailing for the right-hander.

“He had a lot of deep counts tonight, I honestly don’t think he was very sharp,” Chiefs manager Dan Bilardella said. “You look at numbers and you say ‘wow, two hits’ but he wasn’t throwing his best, they hit some balls hard, but it was a good effort.”

In the top of the second, Quad Cities No. 5 hitter Rio Ruiz took Jones’ offering and smacked it deep to left field before Breyvic Valera made a jumping catch at the wall to rob Ruiz of at least an extra-base hit.

Meanwhile, Jones got all the run support he needed off River Bandit miscues. The Chiefs scored all three of their runs — two in the third and one in the seventh — off Quad Cities errors.

In the third, a routine groundball slipped through the legs of Quad Cities first baseman Jesse Wierzbicki, allowing Gurwuins Velazco and Valera to score to put the Chiefs up 2-0. In the seventh, an overthrow to first base allowed Charlie Tilson to score from second for the Chiefs’ final run.

“We took advantage of some errors and miscues by them, but that’s what you’ve got to do,” Bilardella said. “I thought we got away with some pitches tonight, but overall giving up just one run to a good team is a good effort from our staff. I don’t a think a manager — I don’t want to say never — is happy with a win. I feel like there’s always something, and that’s what you try to do to get better.”

Jones’ performance wasn’t flashy — he struck out just two batters and walked three — but he didn’t give up a an earned run and didn’t give up a run at all until the top of the sixth, when Jordan Scott singled, advanced to third on a throwing error, and came home on a groundout by Teoscar Hernandez.

Scott’s single was the first hit Jones had allowed since Hernandez led the game off with a single.

“You’ve got to be able to pitch without having your best stuff, and that’s what he did tonight,” Bilardella said.

Six different players registered a hit for the Chiefs (2-4, 40-33), who handed the River Bandits their first loss of the second half and snapped their six-game winning streak.

“We did some things pretty well tonight to win the ballgame. We took advantage of the situations we were put in and got enough pitching,” Bilardella said. “That was really the game.”

Short hops: Tilson (hamstring) was activated off of the disabled list prior to Wednesday’s game. It was his first game since June 21. He finished 1-for-3 with a run scored.

Evan Wixom can be reached at 686-3214 or ewixom@pjstar.com.

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